


Yes, There Are Mean People

by your_pal_A



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Post 3x13, ig? sorry if my tagging is bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 22:22:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17969150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/your_pal_A/pseuds/your_pal_A
Summary: When TJ tries to talk about what happened on Costume Day with Buffy, he is intercepted by Kira, who, unsurprisingly, makes things a mess. Inspired by a post by daddyrheeig on tumblr.





	Yes, There Are Mean People

TJ checked his phone as he walked up to the gym. It showed no new texts from Cyrus, just as it had everytime he checked it since Friday. I guess I really did fuck it up this time, TJ thought to himself. The least I can do is give Buffy an apology to pass on to Cyrus. Hell, maybe he’ll even decide that it’s worth getting the apology straight from the horse’s mouth.

He pulled himself together and walked into the gym. The girls’ basketball team had just finished practice, and Buffy was busy putting basketballs into a large net bag. She didn’t even notice TJ’s presence until he coughed about three feet away from her.

“What do want, Kippen?”

“Oh, um, I just wanted to, uh, explain about uh, that thing-”

“Cut to the chase. I’ve got stuff to do.”

“I just--how upset is Cyrus with me?”

“Well, given that he didn’t leave his house all weekend and is now carrying about fifty packs of travel tissues, what do you think the answer to that question is?”

“Wait, he really didn’t leave his house all weekend?”

“Or on Monday, other than to go to school. What’s your point here, TJ?”

“God, I didn’t mean to hurt him like that.”

“Then what did you mean? You ask him to do this ridiculous costume all excitedly and he bails on Mount Rushmore just to turn around and find you doing a costume with Kira, of all people?”

“That’s not what happened-”

“Then what did happen?”

Before TJ can answer, he saw Kira walking towards them. Shuddering, he turned around to leave, but before he could even take a step, Kira started talking.  
“What are you doing here, talking to her?” Kira sneered.

“You don’t control me, Kira. I’m just trying to fix the mess I made by letting you believe that you did.”

“Why are you so hung up about that stupid costume? And let me remind you that it didn’t take much to get you to agree to it.”

“So I guess manipulating me isn’t much,” TJ said, visibly shaking. If this conversation didn’t end soon, he felt like he was going to collapse.

“You call that manipulation? I was only pointing out what you already know!”

“Obviously I already know that I like Cyrus! I didn’t know you knew that!” TJ shouted back, now with tears in his eyes. This was not how he was expecting this conversation to go.

“It doesn’t take much to see it, Kippen,” said Kira, rolling her eyes. “Really, you should be thanking me for helping you see that you really need to learn to cover it up better.”

The three stand silently for a few moments: Kira with a smug grin on her face, TJ biting his lip and with tears in his eyes, and Buffy with a look of rage that was growing stormier by the minute.

“I’m sorry, but are you really that blockheaded, Kira?” Buffy said.

“What did you just say to me?”

“So, I’m going to take that as a yes. Do you really think that telling TJ that there’s something wrong with him was ‘helping him’?”

“Well, I mean, that’s not exactly what I said…”

“But it’s absolutely what you meant! What were you even trying to accomplish? Nevermind, I don’t need the answer to that, and TJ doesn’t need to be here right now. Come on, TJ, we have more important things to do.” And with that, Buffy grabbed TJ’s arm and started walking out of the gym.

“Don’t you have to finish cleaning up?” TJ’s voice cracked as his said the words.

“I can do that later. Here, I know an empty classroom that’s always unlocked. We can go hang in there for a bit.”

They no sooner arrived in the classroom before TJ began to sob.

“Hey, I’m just going to let you cry it out for a bit. I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.” TJ just nodded in response.

About ten minutes and several tissues later, TJ swallowed and started talking.  
“Th-thanks, Buffy. I don’t think I could’ve handled that on my own.”

“Well, you were doing pretty okay until I jumped in, but of course I’m happy to help.” Buffy paused before continuing, “Do you want to talk about it? You don’t have to, but I hear it helps.”

“I just--I just wanted to have fun with Cyrus on costume day. Did he tell you what we were gonna do?”

“Yeah, you were going to be ‘summer’ and ‘salt’, as in ‘somersault’, right?”

“Mmhm. There was this one day after you moved that I took him to the little kids’ gym where I work and taught him how to do a somersault.”

“It would’ve been a cool costume.”

“Yeah.”

“...You like him a lot, don’t you?”

“Cyrus? Yeah, I do. I’m just…” TJ paused as he tried to collect his thoughts. “I’m just learning how to be an okay person. I know firsthand how mean people can be...obviously from from the wrong side, of course,” he said with a chuckle. “I already have to deal with my dyscalculia, and now this?” he said, this time with a half-sob.

Buffy waited a beat before pulling TJ into a hug. “Yes, there are mean people, but there are so many more nice people out there, TJ. You just have to find them and surround yourself with them.”

“I think I already did,” he said, smiling. “If only I hadn’t driven the best one away with my scaredy-cat stupidity.”

“Hey, no name-calling! Yeah, not telling him was...not the best choice, but you really didn’t have many options, and you weren’t just doing it out of nowhere. I promise you that Cyrus will understand.”

“If he ever talks to me again, that is.”

“I’ll talk to him. In the meantime, how do you feel about milkshakes?”

“Milkshakes would be great.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I personally enjoyed writing this, but I also wrote it within the span of an hour at midnight, so...  
> Any feedback is much appreciated! My tumblr is @tiberiusjeffersonkippen, so feel free to hit me up there with an requests or whatnot there!


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